I read a lot of good articles and essays while I was working on the last post on PEDs. Before I close those tabs on my browser, I wanted to share them here.
The new ephedra?: Shaun Assael at ESPN investigates a new supplement that might contain amphetamines. This is one example of the dangers of the lightly-regulated supplements industry – problems that extend beyond professional athletes.
Whatever happened to the spitball?: Jonah Keri at Grantland explores the history of the doctored baseball and examines players’ ambivalent relationship with this form of cheating.
Baseball experts say amphetamines ban, not steroids, is major reason for steep drop in offense: Bill Madden of the NY Daily News explores the effect that MLB’s ban on amphetamines has had on baseball. Amphetamines were part of the game longer than steroids, so this gives good context for the discussion on how PEDs have affected the history and tradition of the game.
Justice Served?: Keri again, although I didn’t realize he had written both Grantland pieces on this list till I went back to check bylines. This piece makes clear that Keri is more forgiving of PED use than many other fans and writers.
Understanding A-Rod’s infractions: Jim Caple at ESPN puts steroid use in perspective with baseball’s history of cheating and the fans’ demand for excellence.
The next two links aren’t really recommended for their writing, but I think they’re useful in thinking about how reporters and columnists can try to rework history. I found the two links on Baseball Think Factory.
The first is a Tom Verducci piece on si.com celebrating the fact that Alex Rodriguez is finally being held accountable for PED use. Among the many attacks on Rodriguez, Verducci talks about a conversation that he had with Rodriguez in 2002; Verducci says it was “chilling to listen to his feigned ignorance.”
The second is another Verducci piece, this one from 2007 when Barry Bonds was indicted for obstruction of justice. While slamming Bonds and his career home run record as tainted, Verducci says that baseball is turning the page on Bonds by placing its trust in another superstar. That superstar?
Alex Rodriguez.
Among the quotes:
Unlike Bonds, Rodriguez has never played under suspicion that his performance was enhanced by drugs, and he is not expected to be named as part of the Mitchell Report.
Also:
As The United States of America v. Barry Lamar Bonds became a reality, so too did baseball officials’ hopes for a new face of the game. In A-Rod they trust.
Verducci doesn’t sound particularly chilled or suspicious in talking up Rodriguez there. Makes you wonder which of today’s heroes will be facing scorn in six years.